I believe that Steampunk is more than just brass and watchparts. It's finding a way to combine the past and the future in an aesthetic pleasing yet still punkish way. It's living a life that looks old-fashioned, yet speaks to the future. It's taking the detritus of our modern technological society and remaking it into useful things. Join me as I search for items for my house that combine the scientific romanticism of the Victorians with our real present and imagined future.

4 comments:

The mesh being used looks like your garden variety 'expanded metal', I'm pretty sure I've seen it in some of the larger home improvement centers like Lowes and Home Depot or Menards (might be available at some farm supply centers as well such as Mill's Fleet Farm and Blain's Farm & Fleet),also try your local hobby shops, some of the larger ones like Michael's or Hobby Lobby woul d likely have it as well, otherwise you can check with your local metal supplier, I'm pretty sure they would be able to order some in for you if you can't find it locally. I've seen expanded metal used a lot in the furniture industry as well, as a 'front' for glass on china cabinets and such, so if you have access to any companies that specialize in supplying materials for commercial home remodelling and such you may want to check with them as well, as for shaping it, it looks like it's probably just soft brass so it should be fairly easy to shape it using something with a rounded end to it as the form along with a piece of soft wood (pine or similar material) to 'smooth' the brass into shape without having to risk cutting your hands on the metal (it's still a good idea to wear heavy gloves when working with any sheet metal products though, as well as safety glasses when cutting/sanding/grinding anything of course). The hard parts comes in when you try to polish it, since it's going to be quite flexible you'll probably want to attempt to polish it while it's on the form rather than risk deforming it by trying to polish it without anything to support the shape. As for attaching it to your project, that's pretty simple really, when you cut out your piece that you want to work with leave yourself a couple of 'tabs' of metal that you can bend outward and then secure with a couple of screws and washers, otherwise, you might consider trying to locate some heavy brass wire and simply drill a few holes and use the wire to secure the 'cage' to the base of your project by looping it through the holes and bending the ends over, of course you can always just set it in place too. Hopefully this helps anyone attempting similar projects.

Looks like the gutter downspout filter nailed it. Would be the right size too. Great find and I too have added this part to my mental parts bin for future use.

Expanding on the idea of expanded metal...Suppliers of such material also carry many other interesting materials. Brass screens of all sizes is one I've always liked. Worth dropping into such a business to see the possibilities.